Wednesday, March 10, 2010

DP: MIDTERM

At this point in my degree project my experiments have lead me down a path interesting ways of finding ways to create a system to encourage cycling as alternative form of transportation while also providing information in my own personal tone. from the begining I didn't strive for a traditional form of communication and feel this has informed my project and audience on a deeper level. Riding a bike is a personal choice and shouldn't be forced upon someone in an authoritative way. Keeping this in mind I've explored how illustration along with statistics can create a poetic and unique experience to persuade people to follow proper cycling habits without losing the recreational aspect I am personally attached to. Some experiments included miniature cards, valentines cards, event posters, as well as a guerilla billboard. From these I received vital feedback to develop a consistent identity to strengthen my message.

Beyond the design though, communicating directly with cyclist, bike shops and listening to views about my topic played an important role in how my project reached its current state and the conclusion of the overall design system. Making connections help expose and produce a greater awareness about my project. The real success along with seeing more people out riding is the people who see me working or in the process of installing a project come up to me and are inspired by what I'm making. I recently have done an interview with the pitch and met with the Missouri Bike Federations to discuss thoughts on the cycling community. From here I think what I want to do to conclude this campaign is revisit some of the experiments I did previously but fabricate them in a sustainable way to maintain the awareness. Another way of maintaining this project is making it identifiable by giving it a name and brand attributes. These are some examples of what I currently am developing.

Along with this identity I will conclude this project by making some form of publication that houses my system while also sharing ideas, experiences, and advice in efforts to promote a better bicycling commute and community. This is something all my projects can contribute to in some form to express my overall problem and solution and hopefully will become useful to the general public. ~keep calm move along!